Pokemon Legends Z-A Shiny locks entire species behind free shiny side quest

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Players have found that encountering a shiny Mareep in the Wild Zone 1 of Pokemon Legends Z-A is disabled until you finish the side quest called “A Shiny Mareep?”

Pokémon researcher Anubis discovered that before you finish a specific quest, all Mareep in Wild Zone 1 are programmed to be non-shiny. This quest requires players to find a guaranteed shiny Mareep for a character in the game. Once the quest is completed, this restriction is removed, and future Mareep appearing in that zone have the regular chance of being shiny.

Someone asked me about the Mareep in Wild Zone 1. It turns out you can’t find shiny Mareep there until you finish the specific side mission for shiny Mareep.

Completing the mission isn’t mandatory, so it’s still possible to get all three shiny Pokémon.

The video shows that these Mareep initially appear as non-shiny.

— Anubis (@Sibuna_Switch) November 1, 2025

Pokemon Legends Z-A is unusual because it prevents players from finding shiny versions of a specific Pokemon – Mareep – in one area of the game. While you can still find shiny Flaaffy and Ampharos elsewhere, players might spend hours trying to find a shiny Mareep in Wild Zone 1 without knowing it’s impossible until after completing a certain quest.

Hidden shiny lock frustrates early hunters

Why would Game Freak design this system this way?

If a player begins the shiny Mareep quest and happens to find a shiny Mareep by chance, they might catch it and then be puzzled when the game doesn’t recognize it for the quest.

Scarlet and Violet also had many Pokémon that were ‘shiny locked’ at the very beginning of the game!

— Anubis (@Sibuna_Switch) November 1, 2025

Anubis also pointed out that several Pokémon you meet early in the game have limited shiny chances. For example, the first Fletchling and Bunnelby you find during the story can’t be shiny until you progress further, and a specific Electrike encountered during a story event will never appear as a shiny Pokémon.

Game Freak hasn’t explained why, but it seems the game prevents you from finding a shiny Mareep naturally until you finish a specific side quest, “A Shiny Mareep?” This is unexpected for players who enjoy hunting for shiny Pokémon, as it guarantees you’ll find one, but takes away the feeling of accomplishment from discovering it yourself.

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2025-11-02 22:18